Hickery-dickery-dock clock



July 18, 1933. H. E. NORCROSS HICKERY-DICKERY-DOCK CLOCK Filed Aug. 22, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l I N V ENTOR. M/PRXAT/VORCROSS,

A TTORNE Y.

HI CKERY-DI CKERY-DOCK CLOCK Filed Aug. 22., 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 AWE? A TTORNEI".

Patented July 18, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE HARRY E. NORCROSS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 2T0 DUNGAN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, QIBENN'SYLVTANIA HICKERY-DICKERYwDOGK CLOCK Application filed August 22, 1931. Serial No. 558,674.

My invention.relatestoa new and useful disc to permitthc mouse to drop, said cams clock of the general type disclosed in United States .Patent No. 912,833 and others, and which are known as a fhickery-dickerydock clock, wherein the time is indicated by a mouse rising. slowly on avertical scale which is graduated into twelve hours, said mouse being adapted to drop at the end of the twelve hour period tostart climbing again.

Clocksof this general character have been madeand .use heretofore-but I .have found that none of-the clocks referred to is capable of recording accurate time, for the reason that in all the prior art constructions some time is lost between each two consecutive twelvehourperiods, thisbeing due to the peculiar-construction of the release and takeup mechanisms which permit the dropping of-the mouse and 0f the subsequent reengagement of the parts .to begin ,a second climb, this resultingin a dead rest which may vary from ,a few to several seconds .or minutes,

' during which interval the mouse is at the bottomof the scale vand is not moving up wardly. This represents lost time which must be made up every time the clock is wound .or. after every twelve hour period.

It is therefore the primary object of my present invention to produce an attachment which when applied to any clock works of the one or eight day variety, whereby the mouse is actuated up and down the vertical scale, and whereby no appreciable time is lost between consecutive twelve hour periods, my attachment being such that the mouse begins to climb again instantaneously upon reachingits lowermost position when it. is allowed to drop by the release mechaand said disc being adapted to be applied to the main shaft of a conventional clock work or movement, without the necessityof altering said clock work or movement.

My invention further consists in various other novel features of construction andadvantage, all as hereinafter described inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 represents the front elevation of a mouseclock embodying my invention. I Figure 2 represents a rear view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 represents on an enlarged scale a diagrammatic view of the upper portion of Figure'2.

Figure 4 represents the vertical section on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 representsa plan view of the operating disc and certain of its adjuncts.

Figure 6 represents a plan view of the cam which actuates the disc shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is an endelevation of Figure 6.

Figure 8 represents a plan view of the cam which serves to release thedisc, shown in Figure 5,.every twelve hours.

Figure 9 represents an end elevationof Figure 8.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts, 1 designates theouter casing of the clock, which may be ofany desired shapeor construction, which is provided on the front side thereof with the scale 2 which abuts against the slot 3 on which is adapted to be guided the .mouse or other indicator 4 which iscarried by the cord 5, the upper end of which is adapted to be wound around the operating disc 6, the end of the cord being adjustably secured to one of the apertures 7 in the periphery of the disc, whereby the length of the cord may be accurately adjusted to the desired extent. The cord 5 which is wound around the disc 6 rests within the peripheral. annular groove 8, which is best shown in Figure 4. Thedisc 6 is mounted on the shaft 10 of the regular clock mechanism used-and is retainedin posi' tion by the cotter pin 11. To the disc 6 is pivotally secured the arm 13 which is provided with the flange 14 and which is constantly pressed towards the center of the disc 6 by any suitable spring 16. Behind the disc 6 and on the shaft 10 is mounted the cam 17 which is keyed to the shaft 10 by a cam inserted in the key-way 18. The cam 17 is thus made to rotate with the shaft 10, and the shoulder 19 thereof is adapted to engage the flange 14 of the arm 13 thereby revolving the disc 6 with the revolution of the shaft 10 to wind the cord 5 in the groove 8 around said disc thereby raising the mouse 4 along the vertical scale 2. One complete revolution of the cam 17 results in a complete revolution of the disc 6 and causes the mouse 4 to travel from the numeral 12 at the bottom of the scale 2 to the uppermost numeral 12 at the top thereof. It is now necessary that the mouse 4 be allowed to drop down to the numeral 1 again, and it is further necessary that 7 there be no time lost after the mouse has is carried by the arm 21 and which is loosely mounted on the shaft 10 behind the cam 17. The arm 21 is guided between the stops 23 and 24 and is adapted to swing freely between these two points. The cam 20 is of a generally smaller diameter than the cam 17 except for the shoulder 24 thereof which is somewhat larger than the shoulder 19 of the cam 17. Thus, as the cam 17 moves in a clockwise direction, and drags with it the arm 13 which is pivoted to the disc 6 to rotate the latter, the flange 14 of thearm 13 is only engaged by the shoulder 19 of the cam 17 and does not come in contact with any part of the cam 20. This is true between the hours of one and twelve.

. However, during the last few'seconds of the last hour on the scale, the flange 14 of the arm 1?) begins to ride on the raised surface 25 in advance of the shoulder 24. When this happens, the flange 14 of the arm 13 tends to be disengaged from the shoulder 19 of the cam 17 If this is allowed to happen, the upward travel of the mouse will stop before twelveoclock arrives, and the disc 6, being thus disengaged from the rotating actuating cam 17, will tend to roll in the reverse direction, due to the weight of the mouse, this unwinding the cord 5 and dropping the mouse to the bottom. In order to prevent this con-' tingency, the cam 20 is allowed to depress itself gradually under the pressure of the flange 14, and this depression of the cam 20 results in swinging the arm 21 thereof in a clockwise direction. When the arm 21 has reached the length of its travel against the i stop 23, the cam 20 cannot further yield under the flange 14 of the arm 13, thus resulting in disengaging the flange 14 from the shoulder 19 of the cam 17. When the arm 21 of the cam 20 has reached the stop 23 the flange 14 starts to climb the slope of the cam 20, which new acts as a fixed cam, until the flange 14 is disengaged from the shoulder 19, thus allowing the mouse to drop back to its initial starting position. The flange 14immediately, reengages the shoulder 19 and the mouse again begins to rise. The advantage of the movable mounting of the cam 20 is that by this means the stop 23 may be so positioned that'the disengagement of the flange 14 may be caused to take place at exactly 12 oclock. The movable mounting is also an advantage in that as the cam 20 must protrude in front of the shoulder 19 of the cam 17 before disengagement takes place, the flange 14 will, upon beingdisengaged, fall back into contact only with the cam 17 at the shoulder 19, since the loosely mounted cam 20 can be pushed back by the flange 14 or will fall back of its own weight. lVhen the flange 14 has dropped off the shoulder 24, it is immediately engaged by the shoulder 19, and the disc 6 is again wound up in a clockwise direction thereby again starting the mouse upwardly along the scale 2. When the mouse drops at the beginning of each twelve hour period, the arm 21 of the cam 20 assumes the position shown in solid lines in F igure3, that is, it abuts against the stop 4, where it remains until the close of the next twelve hour period, at which time the flange 14 of the arm 13 again rides on the raised portion 25thereof to repeat the performance heretofore described.

It will thus be seen that I have devised an extremely simple attachment which may be applied to the driving shaft of any enclosed mechanismto revolve a disc throu h a period of twelve hours, and to release t e disc for return to its original position and to reengage the disc for rotation through a second period of twelve hours in an almost instantaneous fashion, so that no time is lost between consecutive twelve hour periods.

While I have described my invention as applied to clocks operated by a spring movement, it is to be understood that my invention is equally as applicable to electrically driven or weight operated clock mechanisms and that I have not shown these two types of clock mechanisms in the interests of brevity and simplicity, since any driving mechanism which would rotate the shaft 10, whether the same be an electric motor, a weight, or any other device, will answer the purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to'secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a clock having a vertical scale or dial, and a clock movement, of a disc loosely mounted upon the driveshaft of said clock movement, a flexible element adapted to be wound abound said disc and carrying an indicating element adapted to slide up and down along said scale, a fixed cam keyed to said shaft and adapted to actuate said disc to raise said indicating element, and a loose cam mounted on said shaft and adapted to co-act with said fixed cam to disengage the latter from said disc whereby said flexible element is unwound from said disc by gravitational pull of said indicating element.

2. The combination With a clock mechanism of a disc loosely mounted on the driveshaft thereof, afixed cam keyed to said shaft, means for engaging said cam with said disc to revolve the latter, and a loose cam mounted on said shaft and adapted to disengage said fixed cam from said disc at predetermined intervals.

3. The combination with a clock mechanism of a disc loosely mounted on the driveshaft thereof, a fixed cam keyed to said shaft, means carried by said disc adapted to be en gaged by and to ride upon said fixed cam to revolve said disc when said driveshaft is revolved, and a loose cam mounted on said shaft and having a portion on the periphery thereof of a greater elevation than the corresponding point on said fixed cam, whereby said means may be disengaged from said fixed cam, to disengage said disc at predetermined intervals.

at. The combination with the driveshaft of a clock mechanism of a disc loosely mounted on said shaft, a fixed cam keyed to said shaft, means carried by said disc adapted to engage and ride on said cam to revolve said disc when said driveshaft is revolved, and a loose cam adapted to disengage said means from said fixed cam to stop the revolution of said disc at predetermined intervals, said cams being so timed that the disengagement of said disc from and its reengagement with said fixed cam is effected in instantaneous succession.

HARRY E. NORCROSS. 

